Device for inking the inking roller of a portable proof press



July 11, 1961 J. A. MOFARLAND DEVICE FOR INKING THE INKING ROLLER OF A PORTABLE PROOF PRESS Filed Aug. 21, 1959 INVENTOR JoH/v A. Mc FARLAND ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office Patented July 11, 1961 2,991,713 DEVICE FOR INKING THE INKING ROLLER OF A PORTABLE PROOF PRESS John A. McFarland, Flint, Mich., assignor to Samac Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 21, 1959', Ser. No. 835,27 7 2 Claims. (Cl. 101-348) This invention relates broadly to the art of printing and, more particularly, to means used in printing for making a proof copy of set type. While the invention is useful in all printing operations it has a particular field of usefulness in the printing of newspapers and, without in any way limiting the invention or the claims which define it, the invention will be described in this application in connection with the printing of a page, or part of a page, of a newspaper.

In the usual and conventional printing of a newspaper each page, or any part of a page, is made up by assem bling slugs of type in a chase on a table or bench known as the make-up bank. After this is done and the type is locked in the chase, the form, as it is known, is moved, usually on a wheeled carriage, to a stationary proof press where it is moved from the carriage to the press. After a proof sheet is made the form is moved from the press onto the carriage and taken back to the make-up bank. The sole purpose of this laborious and time-consuming operation is to make a proof sheet from which it may be determined whether changes must be made in the type which is locked in the form.

In my Letters Patent No. 2,901,971 and my co-pending application for Portable Proof Press, Serial No. 835,278 filed August 21, 1959, I have disclosed and claimed inventions made by me having the same ultimate purpose as these known fixed proof presses, which is the making of a proof sheet, but which inventions provide portable devices which may be applied directly to a made-up form at the make-up bank or elsewhere in order to take a proof of the set type without moving the form itself and which is light in weight and easily portable, whereby it may be moved from form to form to take proofs, thereby eliminating any necessity of moving the forms to the proof press and, further, eliminating any need for the usual stationary proof press.

Portable proof presses of the type disclosed and claimed in my co-pending applications have an inking roller and a pressure roller which are selectively movable into engagement with the face of type in a made-up form. The inking roller is impregnated or covered with ink and is rolled over the type face to apply ink thereto, while the pressure roller is rolled over a sheet of paper laid on the type face in order to print a proof copy.

This invention has to do generally with portable proof presses of the type invented by me and disclosed and claimed in my co-pending applications, and has for its principal object the provision of new and improved means for applying ink to the inking roller, of such a portable proof press.

An embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the drawings forming part of this specification, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a portable proof press together with means provided by this invention for applying ink to the inking roller thereof.

A portable proof press of the type invented by me and disclosed and claimed in my co-pending applications is shown in the drawings in association with the device provided by the present invention for applying ink to the inking roller of the press. The portable proof press is fully described in my co-pending applications and will be only generally described here. The press comprises a frame having spaced, parallel side plates which are 2, 4 mounted at or adjacent the opposite ends of spaced, parallel rods 6, 8 so that the plates and rods form a frame. A carriage 28 is mounted on shaft 8 for adjustable rotary movement about such shaft, and means are provided for locking the carriage in at least three right-angularly related positions about the shaft. The carriage supports an inking roller 10 and a pressure roller 12 which are disposed on diametrically opposite sides of the shaft 8. In one position of the carriage, which is illustrated in the drawings, the two rollers are disposed with their axes in a generally horizontal plane, which is the inoperative position of the carriage in which it is positioned when it is desired to move the press from place to place or to apply ink to the inking roller 10*. In another position of the carriage the axes of the two rollers are disposed in a vertical plane with the inking roller 10 below the pressure roller 12, while in a third position of the carriage the axes of the two rollers are again disposed in a vertical plane with the pressure roller below the inking roller. Means are provided by the inventions described and claimed in my co-pending applications for locking the carriage in these three posi tions. The structure of the portable proof press and the mode of operation thereof are fully disclosed in the cospending applications and need not be further described here, reference being made herein to the co-pending applications for such complete descriptions. For the purpose of describing the present invention it need only be said that the portable proof press comprises a movable frame having a rotatable pressure roller 12 and a rotatable inking roller 10, the frame being movable in a direction at right angles to the spaced, parallel axes of the two rollers, and the inking roller being so positioned with respect to the frame that its periphery may be freely engaged by a part or device positioned outside the frame. The inking roller may be formed of any hard or soft, absorbent or non-absorbent material without departing in any way from the scope of the present invention but, in its preferred form, the inking roller is formed of a material which freely absorbs and releases liquid or paste ink.

Means are provided by the present invention for applying ink to the inking roller 10 of a portable proof press of the type invented by me and generally described herein. One form which such means may take is disclosed in the drawing and comprises two parallel rails 20, 22 which are spaced apart sufficiently so that they provide parallel surfaces which may act as guides for rollers on the lower edges of the inner surfaces of the side plates 2, 4 of the portable press device, whereby the press may be moved longitudinally along the rails. At or adjacent one end of the rails and extending transversely between them and positioned above them are two rollers 30, 32, the axes of which are parallel and spaced apart sufiiciently that the peripheral edges of the two rollers are in tangential, or line, contact. These rollers are so positioned that when the portable proof press is moved toward them along the rails 20, 22 the peripheral edge of the inking roller 10 of the press will tangentially engage the roller 30 of the inking device throughout the length of the inking roller 10. The roller 32 is formed of a material which freely absorbs and releases ink and it therefore acts as a reservoir for ink which is supplied to the transfer roller 30 when these two rollers are rotated with their peripheries in engagement, as shown in the drawing.

Means are provided by the invention for rotating the transfer roller 30 and the reservoir roller 32 of the inking device upon engagement of the transfer roller by the inking roller 10 of the portable proof press when the press is moved toward the inking device provided by this invention and the inking roller engages the transfer roller 30. Such means comprise an electric motor 4! the armature of which is connected by a belt drive 42 to a pulley mounted on the end of the rotatable transfer roller 30. A normally open switch 50 is positioned at the end of one of the rails 20, 22 adjacent the motor 40 and in a position where it will be engaged and closed by some part of the portable proof press when the inking roller 10 thereof engages the transfer roller 30 of the inking device as the portable proof press is moved along the rails 20, 22. The switch is normally biased to open position so that it will be moved to such position, and the motor 40 de-energized, when the inking roller 10 of the press is moved out of engagement with the transfer roller 34) of the inking device.

As described in my co-pending applications the portable proof press which I have invented is adapted and intended, in use, to be picked up and moved from place to place wherever a made-up form is located, thus doing away with the necessity of moving the made-up forms themselves. It will be apparent that as the portable proof press is moved and used the inking roller 10 thereof must be replenished with ink and the present invention provides a simple, readily installed,and easily operated means for doing this. While it is preferred to have rails, such as the rails 20, 22 associated with each inking device, these rails may be eliminated and the motor operated by the switch 50 merely by bringing the inking roller 11 of the portable proof press into engagement with the transfer roller 30 of the inking device and closing the switch 50 by some means, such as by engagement by a part of the proof press.

While I have described and illustrated certain forms which my invention may take it will be understood by those skilled in the art that other embodiments of the invention, as well as modifications of those disclosed, may be made and practiced without departing in any way from the spirit and scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for supplying ink to the inking roller of a portable proof press, said device comprising two parallel rollers the axes of which are spaced and the peripheries of which are in tangential contact, one of said rollers being formed of a material which freely absorbs and releases ink and which therefore acts as a reservoir of ink, the second of said rollers having a surface which receives ink from the reservoir roller to transfer it to the inking roller of the portable proof press when such inking roller is brought into tangential engagement with the transfer roller of the inking device, and means responsive to the movement of said portable proof press to a position permitting the inking roller thereof to be tangentially engaged with the transfer roller of said inking device for causing rotation of the two rollers of the inking device.

2. A device for supplying ink to the inking roller of a portable proof press, said device comprising two parallel rollers the axes of which are spaced and the peripheries of which are in tangential contact, one of said rollers being formed of a material which freely absorbs and releases ink and which therefore acts as a reservoir of ink, the second of said rollers having a surface which receives ink from the reservoir roller to transfer it to the inking roller of the portable proof press when such inking roller is brought into tangential engagement with the second roller of the inking device, an electric motor connected to rotate the two rollers of the inking device, a normally open switch positioned to be engaged and closed by a part of the portable proof press when the inking roller of the portable proof press is brought into tangential engagement with the second roller of the inking device, and an electric circuit including said motor and switch whereby the rollers of the inking device are rotated upon tangential engagement of the inking roller of the portable proof press with the second roller of the inking device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 103,961 Bangle June 7, 1870 1,843,254 Vandercook et al. Feb. 2, 1932 2,024,594 Mueller Dec. 17, 1935 

